Critique the electoral process in the U.S. and suggest improvements. [Dates earlier than 2012 are spurious. I predated posts to arrange them in 'book order', but the result was unsatisfactory. Ignore the dates, focus on the content.]

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Three Flaws in the US Government

There
are, in my view, three fundamental flaws in our government: the way we
maintain our laws, the way we tax, and the way we select our
representatives. Until we improve the way we select our
representatives, we cannot sunset bad laws or improve our tax code.

(edit) As requested by Tom Byron, I offer the following:

1)
The way we maintain our laws: Nothing in our Constitution requires
that laws be sunsetted. As a result of that omission, a law passed by a
bare majority of our representatives (and, possibly, desired by a
minority of our citizens) stays on the books ad infinitum. A less
lamentable method would be limits on the life of a law based on the
lowest percentage of approval by which it passes either house of
Congress (or the various legislatures). Revisiting marginal laws allows
the people to express their approval or disapproval based on their
experience with the law.

For example:

Less than 52% approval, a life of 1 year 52% to 55% approval, a life of 2 years 55% to 65% approval, a life of 5 years Over 65% approval, a life of 10 years

2)
The way we tax: Taxes should be proportional to the benefits the taxed
entity realizes because of its citizenship. Taxes should not be
preferential; they should allow no exemptions or exceptions.

3)
The way we select our representatives: At present, political parties
have usurped the right to name the candidates for public office, and
those who control the options control the result. The people's only
recourse is to vote for a candidate selected by a party. Since the goal
of parties is to advance their own interest, they choose unscrupulous
people by design. If we are to improve our government, the first step
must be for the people to select the best of their number to represent
them in their government.